Conventionally, card connectors generally have a card ejection mechanism for ejecting an inserted card, such as a memory card or a Subscriber Identity Module (“SIM”) card.
A conventional card connector 101 disclosed in JP 2011-34832A is shown in FIG. 22, which has a housing 110 made of synthetic resin with the top face and the card insertion face opened; and a metal shell 120 attached to the upper side of the housing 110 to form an insertion space for a card (not shown). Moreover, a card insertion slot 111 is arranged in combination of the housing 110 and the shell 120.
Multiple electrical contacts 112 for making contact with the card are provided at a base 110a of the housing 110, and in addition, a card ejection mechanism receiving space 113 is formed at one end portion of the housing 110 in the width direction (the horizontal direction in FIG. 22). The card ejection mechanism receiving space 113 is arranged between a side wall 110c of the housing 110 and a guide wall 110b protruding upward from the base 110a of the housing 110. Moreover, a card ejection mechanism 130 for ejecting the inserted card is disposed in the card ejection mechanism receiving space 113.
The card ejection mechanism 130 includes: a sliding member 131; an ejection spring 132; a cam groove 133; and a cam rod 134, in which the cam groove 133 and the cam rod 134 constitute a locking mechanism of the sliding member 131 against the biasing force of the ejection spring 132.
The sliding member 131 is made of resin and slides together with the card in the card ejection mechanism receiving space 113 in the card-inserting direction and in the card-ejecting direction. When the sliding member 131 is displaced, the lower side portion of one of the side walls of the sliding member 131 slides along the guide wall 110b. In addition, a metal sheet 114 is provided in the card ejection mechanism receiving space 113, so that the sliding member 131 slides on the metal sheet 114.
The ejection spring 132 is provided between the back wall of the housing 110 and the back end of the sliding member 131, and biases the sliding member 131 in the card-ejecting direction.
Furthermore, the cam groove 133 is arranged in the top face of the sliding member 131. The cam rod 134 has one end mounted to the back wall of the housing 110 in a rotatable manner, and has the other end engaged with the cam groove 133. This permits the sliding member 131 to be locked at a locking position in the card-inserting direction and the card-ejecting direction against the biasing force of the ejection spring 132.
However, the conventional card connector 101 shown in FIG. 22 presents a problem if the card connector 101 is mounted on, for example, a flexible printed circuit (FPC). To operate correctly, when the sliding member 131 is displaced, the lower side portion of one of the side walls of the sliding member 131 slides along the guide wall 110b protruding from the base 110a of the housing 110. This guides the sliding of the sliding member 131 to ensure smooth sliding of the sliding member 131. When mounted on an FPC, the base 110a of the housing 110 may be warped due to an elastic force exerted by the electrical contacts 112 in the insertion of the card. If the base 110a of the housing 110 is warped, the guide wall 110b provided on the base 110a is displaced downward and the guide wall 110b may be disengaged from the side wall of the sliding member 131. This makes it difficult for the guide wall 110b to guide the sliding of the sliding member 131, and thus leading to a disadvantage that the sliding member 131 is not capable of sliding in a smooth manner.